Breakfast with Nina Köll / Frühstück mit Nina Köll

Born and raised in the Tyrolean Alps in Austria, Nina Köll is now a lecturer in the department for Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam.
She is currently also working on her Ph.D. and is an advisor to the Dutch Cultural Media Fund.
Before (re)entering academia, she gained extensive work experience as a journalist, film and digital media curator, and in film production, in New York and Amsterdam.
After finishing her Ph.D. and before retiring (if ever), she will write at least one feature length screenplay.Auf deutsch weiter lesen

What do you usually have for breakfast?A cup of black tea with fresh lemon. I’ve been drinking two litres every day since my childhood.

What is your favourite breakfast place in your town/city?If I’m having breakfast outside my home there’s a good chance to meet me at Podium Mozaiek. This international Theatre Café which is located in Bos en Lommer (similar to Berlin Kreuzberg) offers at weekends for around 8 Euro a tasty Turkish breakfast that even satisfies two hungry stomachs.

What do people like most about your town/city and what do you like most about your town/city?Lots of citizens of Amsterdam predicate that Amsterdam is just a “big village” and in some way they’re right. It is a large city with provincial flair: picturesque and manageable but also very diverse, international and effervescent.

What are you currently working on?For the past three years I have been a lecturer at the University of Amsterdam in film and media. At the same time I’m writing my doctoral thesis about the latest developments and experiences of films. We are living in fascinating times: everybody agrees that “film” is not the same as it was 50 years ago. Movies are almost exclusively shot and projected digitally, the aesthetics of movies are changing and even the way we watch movies is now different (and way more mobile). Therefore, some people (like film critics, theoreticians but also filmmakers like Jean-Luc Godard and Quentin Tarantino) shout out things like: “Film is dead!” and “Oh no! How horrible it is! Everything has been different and better in the past!“ From my point of view these changes are less rigid and not really a problem.

What inspires you and what do you when an idea comes to you?I get motivated by my discomfort as well as my passion and my curiosity: discomfort about my own way of seeing the world, about the things I read and see (and that I want to make it better). But also the passion and fascination about movies, books, literature, culture and human weaknesses and strengths. AAt the same time, this is what inspires me.

What is the one project you are most proud of?“Project New York”. I grew up in a village in Tirol (Austria) and dreamed of the big city flair of London and New York since childhood. At the age of 21, I lived in London for a year being an Erasmus student. Turning 24, I moved to New York to study Film and to work on different film productions. Apart from that I also reported and blogged for the Austrian radio station FM4. An incredibly exciting and interesting time.

If you had your own museum which artists would be in your collection?Hieronymus Bosch, Artemisia Gentileschi, Francis Bacon, Frida Kahlo, Picasso. I’d love to have a Rembrandt in my collection. And Jean-Michel Basquiat. And pictures by Dorothea Lange, Tina Modotti, Inge Morath, Cindy Sherman, Andreas Gursky, Jon Rafman. I would dedicate one room to those artists who provide us with an alternative perspective to Orientalism: Ai Wei Wei, Liu Bolin, Reza Abedini, Shirin Neshat. Kara Walker could also be a part. Street Artists (Banksy, David Shrigley, Slinkachu) and Art Hackers are welcome to intervene in my museum (without permission and completely spontaneously) and I’d love to have the Guerrila Girls as guest curators.

What are the social media platforms that you use for your work and how do you use it?I publish and write on Tumblr and Twitter – two micro blogging sites – there is simply not more time and passion for it. I’m using “content-platforms” such as Youtube or Vimeo and and various blogs for research.

What have you achieved through social media and what are your planning to do in the nearer future?

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What made you take part in “components”?I found the idea really interesting and trusted the initiator, Simone Naumann.

Where do you think should be the next “components” exhibition?How about an open air exhibition in a park? The online aspect could be combined with the spatial aspect in a way that visitors for instance find Component profiles with their smartphones via tags or have the opportunity to straight away upload a picture and create their own profile. (It doesn’t necessarily have to be in a park. I just like art in public places and consider Components an ideal project for it.

Who would you invite to breakfast from Components?
What would you ask her?Lydia Matzka. Back in Tirol we were good friends when we were teenagers but around the age of 18 we lost contact. 15 years later I “found” her again – thanks to Simone Naumann, Facebook and Components.